


Love Is Patient

by CelesteFitzgerald



Category: Arthur (Cartoon)
Genre: Anniversary, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 00:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18884695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelesteFitzgerald/pseuds/CelesteFitzgerald
Summary: On the day of his 3-year anniversary, Nigel arrives home from work to find that Patrick has made an anniversary dinner for the two of them. But Nigel gets the feeling that Patrick might have a much bigger surprise in store for him.





	Love Is Patient

It was a big night for Nigel—it was his three-year anniversary with Patrick—but he had a sneaking suspicion that the night was about to get a lot bigger. When he had arrived home from work to see dozens of candles carefully placed around the kitchen and a three-course meal laid out on the table, Nigel couldn’t help but feel a little ray of hope that a proposal was on the way.

When Patrick handed him a glass of champagne—much fancier than their typical beverage selection—he thought for sure that this must be it. Sure, the “ring-in-the-champagne-glass” trick was a little overdone, but if Patrick was the one doing it, it would be the most romantic gesture Nigel had ever seen. So, Nigel peered into the glass, swirled it around, even took a few sips—but there was no ring.

After they ate, Patrick brought out a chocolate cake from the other room. Nigel eagerly looked at the top of the cake to see if there was anything written in the frosting. There wasn’t. (There was, however, a row of hand-crafted fondant flowers perfectly arranged around the edge—goodness, Patrick was incredible.) _Maybe the ring’s inside the cake?_ Nigel thought after Patrick insisted on slicing the cake himself. But Nigel didn’t find a ring in his slice. Or in his second slice. Or his third.

The candles burned low as Nigel and Patrick sat and talked, reminiscing about their time together. Then, after a brief pause and a deep breath, Patrick took Nigel’s hand in his and began talking about how much Nigel meant to him. _This is it_ , Nigel thought. Surely Patrick would propose this time.

Patrick finished his speech and pulled Nigel in for a kiss. Then he stood up to clean up the dishes.

 _Huh._ Maybe Patrick really wasn’t going to propose yet. Nigel couldn’t stop the slight feeling of disappointment that came over him. But as he watched Patrick clean up the many, many pots and pans from dinner—humming while he worked, as usual—Nigel began to smile. His boyfriend was willing to put in all this effort just for an anniversary dinner. _How did I get this lucky?_ he thought as he got up to help Patrick clean. 

* * *

 

Once the kitchen was clean, they retired to the living room to let their food digest. Patrick read the newspaper while Nigel got to work grading his kids’ exams. Perhaps it wasn’t the most exciting way to spend their evening, but whenever Nigel glanced over at Patrick and saw the soft little smile on his face as he read, Nigel knew he wouldn’t change a thing.

“Nigel?” Patrick said, interrupting the comfortable silence.

“Yes, dear?” Nigel set down the exams and looked up.

“I’m having some trouble with this crossword puzzle. Do you think you could help me out?”

Nigel laughed. “You must be having a lot of trouble—I haven’t seen you write down a single answer so far.”

Patrick gave him another one of those smiles that he loved. “How would you know that I haven’t written anything when you’ve been _so_ focused on those tests without a single distraction?” Patrick said with a wink as he picked up Nigel’s pen from the coffee table.

Sighing, Nigel shook his head. “Which clues are you having trouble with?”

“Let’s see….” Patrick said, running his eyes over the paper. “Ah! Here’s a tough one: ‘What color are my eyes?’”

“W-what?”

Nigel gasped while Patrick smirked at him—then Patrick rushed to place a hand over his own eyes. “No cheating.”

“I would never cheat,” Nigel said, regaining his composure. “And besides, this is an easy question. Your eyes are brown—the most beautiful shade of brown I’ve ever seen—even more beautiful than the brown of the chocolates you make.”

“Really?” Patrick said, lowering his hand.

“Well, almost as beautiful as your chocolates,” Nigel teased, earning a laugh from Patrick.

“Correct,” Patrick said as he took the pen and scribbled something down in the newspaper.

“Are you sure this is in the newspaper?” Nigel asked, leaning over to see.

“Of course,” Patrick said—then he snatched the paper out of Nigel’s reach. “No peeking—you have to help me with a few more questions first.”

“Fine,” Nigel relented. “What’s next?”

“Hmm…. ‘Where did we meet?’”

“You think that’s a hard question? This might just be the easiest ‘crossword puzzle’ I’ve ever done. I think I need to give the creator of this puzzle a lesson on difficulty,” Nigel said. “We met at your shop when I was drawn in by the delicious smells.”

“And you spent fifteen minutes deciding what to order,” Patrick added.

“Well, it certainly didn’t make it any easier that the handsome man behind the counter kept giving me dozens of recommendations.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I could tell right from the start that you would become one of my most frequent customers,” Patrick said.

“Ahh, I see—so this entire relationship was a trap so that you could get more of my money?”

“Not at all. Now you get all your chocolate for free—asking you out was the worst business decision I’ve ever made.”

Nigel laughed again. “I’m honored.”

“You should be,” Patrick said before writing something else in the newspaper. Then he kept intently staring at the paper.

“Are there anymore extremely easy crossword clues you need help with?” Nigel asked. As silly as this quiz was, he was really enjoying himself.

“There is one more,” Patrick said without looking up, “but I’m not sure I would call it easy.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Nigel said. “What is it?”

Patrick took a deep breath. Then he dropped the newspaper, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a ring. “Will you marry me?”

Nigel’s breath caught in his throat as he gazed at his boyfriend—no, his _fiancé_. He leaned over and wrapped his hands around Patrick’s. “Oh, Patrick. That’s the easiest question of all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Never thought I'd be writing Arthur fanfiction, but ever since I heard the news I haven't been able to get this cute couple out of my head. So I decided to write about them!


End file.
